I noticed some little black specks on my Swiss chard yesterday. Today I took a closer look and can see some damage, and lots of little black things that look about the size of mustard seeds. I did some cursory googling but nothing came up to match it. The black specks did not move when I blew on them or touched them. What could this be? How do I stop it from hurting my chard?
It looks like caterpillar poop to me. I would thoroughly investigate your chard, looking on stems, undersides of the leaves and unroll any curled leaves. Good luck with this. Keep us posted please.
Thank you so much! It was indeed from caterpillars! I've included a picture of the tiny criminals. I removed six of them from the plant. Should I remove the poop or just leave it and let it fall off on its own?
Hey DT, You can just leave them, but I am such a neuro personally, that I would just wrince(sp) them off with water. It is because I eat Swiss chard, and it is just the idea of it all. hahaha. The main thing is that you have taken measures. Well done you.\p.s. Thanks for the follow-up foto.
These leaves are chewed up to heck, so I think I'll just leave it for now since I won't be eating them. I did do a once-over on the chard again today and found another caterpillar! I'll be checking it every day for a bit to see if there are any more.
I found another one today way down in the stalk! It was trying to hide, but I got it. There is now less poop, probably getting knocked off by this rain!
